Adam Sowards on being Unconfined in the Desert:
Americans were slow to embrace the desert as a landscape worthy of preservation. Geysers and canyons and mountains were one thing; dry expanses with prickly plant life and poisonous creatures were another. The National Park Service existed for a generation before it started protect desert spaces, and the American public did not really change their attitudes until after World War II. For most of the nation’s history, “desert” meant desolation.
It’s a good piece, though I bristled a bit when reading the above paragraph. Sure, this was certainly true for most Easterners, but I’d also remark that this wasn’t true in Southwestern communities.
Phoenix, for instance, just a small unassuming town at the time, purchased 16,000 acres to establish South Mountain Park in 1924. Similarly, nearby Papago Saguaro National Monument had been designated ten years prior, before even the National Park Service itself existed. Tucson Mountain Park was created in 1929. Several other desert landscapes had been protected as national park units, though often due to archaeological sites or other scientific fascinations. But, really, nearly all national parks were designated for something unusual, not just a standard representation of their flora, fauna, and geology.